Bachmannia chubutensis

For the flowering plant of southeastern Africa, see Bachmannia.

Bachmannia chubutensis
Temporal range: Ypresian, 52 Ma
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Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Suborder: Diplomystoidei
Family: †Bachmanniidae
Azpelicueta & Cione, 2011
Genus: †Bachmannia
Dolgopol, 1941
Species:
†B. chubutensis
Binomial name
†Bachmannia chubutensis
Dolgopol, 1941
Synonyms

Arius argentinus Dolgopol, 1941

Bachmannia is an extinct genus of ray-finned fish from the order of the catfishes (Siluriformes), containing a single species, B. chubutensis (syn.: Arius argentinus Dolgopol, 1941).[1] Fossils of the species, dated to the early Eocene, were found in the Laguna del Hunco site, a caldera in the Argentinean province of Chubut, which is filled with fine-grained, layered mudstones and sandstones interspersed with pyroclastic deposits.[2] The genus was named by Mathilde Dolgopol de Sáez, in honor of the German physician and naturalist Franz Ewald Theodor Bachmann.

Bachmannia chubutensis lived during the climatic optimum of the early Eocene. The Laguna del Hunco was located on the southern edge of the tropics, in a humid climate with a distinct maritime influence.[3] Volcanic activity with the release of gases into the water led to regular mass deaths of fish.

  1. ^ Dolgopol de Sáez, M. (1941). "Noticias sobre peces fósiles argentinos, siluroideos terciarios del Chubut". Notas del Museo de la Plata. 35: 451–457.
  2. ^ Azpelicueta, María De Las Mercedes; Cione, Alberto Luis (2011-03-17). "Redescription of the Eocene catfish Bachmannia chubutensis (Teleostei: Bachmanniidae) of southern South America". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 31 (2): 258–269. Bibcode:2011JVPal..31..258A. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.550351. ISSN 0272-4634.
  3. ^ Wilf, Peter; Johnson, Kirk; Cúneo, NR; Smith, ME; Singer, BS; Gandolfo, MA (2005). Jonathan B., Losos; Westoby, Mark (eds.). "Eocene Plant Diversity at Laguna del Hunco and Río Pichileufú, Patagonia, Argentina". The American Naturalist. 165 (6): 634–650. doi:10.1086/430055. ISSN 0003-0147. JSTOR 10.1086/430055. PMID 15937744.